AN: Credits to Vasilisa, perfect_shade, geo_113, and gdstriker for the revisions.

For those who haven't seen it yet, Chapter 2 has been rewritten.

Chapter 3 rewrite will be coming up next, then Ch 54.

1953 October 4th, somewhere in Lothiern:

"Quite a mess in Berun lately. I'm glad you're actually alive and well despite the rumors flying around about what happened to you last month," Piet Vondel, the Lothierian prime minister, poured coffee into cups for both of us. "Regarding the natural gas situation you wanted to discuss, I don't appreciate that company trying to pull wool over our eyes over the massive goldmine they stumbled across."

"Thank you," I picked up my cup and took a sip. "And I should expend my precious time, energy and political capital on your behalf because..."

"Because if things continue to escalate, it could get ugly." Vondel shook his head. "I already have some of my politicians publicly calling on me to tear up the agreement and then outright nationalize the entire natural gas field! If Daneland and Dacia continue their intransigence, I may have no other alternative but to accede to domestic pressure and then invite oil firms from the Allied Kingdom and Francois Republic to undertake extraction operations instead."

"And I'm assuming you also have foreign pressures on you as well?..." I set down my coffee cup.

"You know their predicament: with the closure of the Suez Canal and the global oil supply shock, both countries are going into winter facing severe energy shortages. So they're desperately trying to suck up every drop of oil and gas from any source that they can lay hands on. I'm already under heavy pressure from both the Albish and Frankish leaderships; the Albish in particular are difficult to refuse because their military is still fighting on our behalf to regain control of the Lothiern East Indies."

I pondered his words. The Albish and Frankish would likely utilize the Lothiern natural gas situation to try to dial back Aegyptus' and Germania's demands for a Middle East settlement.

"Do you think other countries or hydrocarbon companies would have found that same natural gas reserve?" I pointed out. "Doubtful. I haven't had a look at Rom-Dansk's company reports, but stumbling across a major natural gas reserve on your land would only be possible because Rom-Dansk had the technology and resources to deep-drill a few dozen sites when there was no obvious sign that Lothiern's territory would contain any hydrocarbon riches at all. A very risky investment. They also have the means to extract and transport the gas. Only American hydrocarbon companies can match the capabilities of the Danish and Dacian companies, and if they had found the gas themselves, the Unified States would temporarily drop their splendid little isolation if a foreign country tried seizing assets from their businesses. Especially since they now have a fleet next to the Allied Kingdom and Francois Republic."

"Let's say everything goes your way," I said slowly, "and you gain full control of the natural gas reserve. Then what? Lothiern would take, what, over two centuries to use all of that by themselves, assuming the estimated quantity of gas is fully accurate and your country averages a 2% increase in natural gas usage every year?"

I paused for a moment to let that sink in, then I glanced at the map in the room and looked back at him.

"So what were the terms that the Allied Kingdom and Francois Republic offered in regards to the natural gas situation?"

"Ispagna was also part of the discussion," Vondel added absentmindedly, while setting down his cup of coffee. "Their offer was straightforward: they get priority for the natural gas after Lothiern's domestic needs are met, then OZEV would get any remainder. In return, they would back Lothiern's demand for ultimate control of the natural gas reserves within our borders and ensure the security of our East Indies colony."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "First question, what hydrocarbon company, or any other company, would want to do business with your country after you pushed the Danish-Dacian company down the stairs? Invite the American companies? They would have you over a barrel with ironclad contracts before stepping foot onto your land, and I already mentioned the consequences of trying to scam them. The Albish? I guess you'll have to wait for at least another few years for their hydrocarbon companies to build up the capability to tap the reserves."

"The Allied Kingdom has strongly emphasized the high priority they would give to tapping the natural gas reserve."

"Ah yes, kick OZEV companies off after they invested in finding the stuff and then inviting the Albish to take over." I rolled my eyes. "And the second question is what happens when the Allied Kingdom abandons the East Indies? They would have control over your natural gas because surely you wouldn't kick another set of companies off of your territory a second time, because then no one would want to do business with you. That's assuming the Albish doesn't just blockade your country for scamming them."

"You think they'll sign on a deal that they can't fulfill?" Vondel scoffed.

"Tomorrow I'll be meeting with the Albish to discuss a peace deal to end the Aegyptian war."

Vondel looked at me with a confused face. "I was not aware of that. Did the Aegyptian government in exile finally capitulate?"

I chuckled audibly. "Aegyptus refused any peace talks until I was invited. And if Aegyptus were the one seeking peace, you and I both know that the Albish would not want Germania to have a say in any deal, and instead only invite their allies to intimidate Aegyptus. As far as I'm aware, the only other country they invited was the Francois Republic. And because they invited the frogs, I invited South Bharat for equal representation, which the Albish could either accept or go back to bleeding out in Aegyptus and run on fumes with winter approaching. So they accepted my demand."

I then withdrew a sheet of paper from my jacket pocket and handed it to him. "I also have an intel report suggesting that there is panic within the Albish and Frankish governments after the Americans demanded immediate loan repayments in full, payable only in gold no less! That might explain why the American fleet is right on their doorstep, as a debt collector. The political opposition in Londinium has been riding on the anti-war bandwagon and the polling numbers suggest they may win a landslide victory in the next election. Coincidentally, this was shortly before they asked me for peace talks. If you don't believe me, I suggest trying to convert your holding of sterling and francs into bullion and seeing how many excuses those two countries find to avoid or delay giving you gold."

"You and South Bharat were invited to that peace deal ..." Vondel trailed off as he stared at the paper.

"Here's my offer: after Lothiern's domestic usage is met, the remainder of the natural gas is sold at a market price and automatically goes to the highest bidders that can receive the natural gas. Lothiern can regulate the hydrocarbon business, such as how deposits are extracted. But booting companies off of what they discovered and built is unacceptable."

I paused for a moment before continuing. "In return, Lothiern gets a percentage of the profits through ownership of shares in the hydrocarbon companies. The percentages are determined by how much the hydrocarbon exploration and infrastructure is funded by Lothiern. Lothiern can additionally tax the natural gas for further revenue, but it must apply equally to domestic and export usage. And any subsidies would have to be equally shared. I'll also offer the connection of Germania's electrical grid to Lothiern's grid for the unrestricted trade of electricity."

"Why would you be so interested in our taxation policy?" Vondel narrowed his eyes.

"The intent is to avoid a situation where all of the industries that heavily use hydrocarbons end up only operating in Lothiern to bypass heavy export taxes and take advantage of low domestic taxes, which would unfairly harm OZEV, the Allied Kingdom, Francois Republic and the rest of Europe." I smiled again. "I would be surprised if the Albish would oppose me on this, unless your plan was to carve out country specific tax exemptions."

"That's … acceptable." Vondel hesitated. "But what about our East Indies colonies?"

"The Treaty of Triano was an odd bird in many respects," I mused. "Ever wondered why Lothiern, and only Lothiern, received control of all of the former Empire's colonies in Southeast Asia?"

Vondel's blank look was a signal for me to sigh.

"What, you didn't think it was because the Allies liked you a lot better than any other successor-state to the Empire, did you? Or perhaps you thought it was because the Lothiernese are just so handsome and charming that they couldn't resist spoiling you? Or because you fawned and groveled and licked their boots better than any of us who were on the losing side?" I sneered. "No. Lothiern, because of its geographical closeness to the Allied Kingdom, was set up to be their chosen vassal-state or de facto protectorate. Which would give the Albish indirect control over and access to the East Indies' resources. A thinly-veiled land-grab, designed to make the Albish seem like less of the greedy opportunists that we all know they are. The Albish position has been made especially clear recently with how they have taken direct control of your colonies, without even the effort of a fig-leaf as cover. And I know you're going to say that the Albish control is a temporary measure."

That last line interrupted what Vondel was about to say, so I continued without giving him a chance to object.

"There are two outcomes I see. The AK crush the rebellions, and they would want compensation for throwing men and materiel onto those islands because your colonial government and military couldn't do their job. Or if they fail to crush the rebellions … would your military go back to those islands to continue the fighting?"

"So what should I do?" Vondel was breathing hard at this point while I finished my coffee.

"Start making plans for decolonization yesterday! Give the locals independence with some strings attached, but the longer the fight drags on, the less leverage you will have over the rebels. Especially when the peace deal with Aegyptus is signed, which will have the Albish and Frankish withdraw from Aegyptus without accomplishing their war goals. That's a massive sign of weakness to all of the rebels and aspiring rebels in their colonies."

"Abandon our colonies and their rich resources ..." Vondel's face was turning red.

"Tell me, Herr Vondel: what good are those resources ... if you are unable to extract and transport them?"

Several seconds passed and he had no good answer. I softened my voice. "What if there could be a future for the former colonies to embrace trade with Europe and to at least remain neutral in the global conflict against communism? Sure, there will be middlemen between the resources and you, but you wouldn't need an enlarged overseas military force when the locals in the former colonies would be financially incentivized to protect their exports to sell to Europe."

"And the ones that go full communist?"

"Not all of the rebels are fully communist," I shook my head. "You'll find that out when you offer independence referendums, along with carrots and sticks to incentivize them to keep trading with Europe instead of the poorer CSR. Many years ago, Formosa had a bit of a communist problem until the Akinese gave them independence, which knocked out the local communists' main support pillar as they had been exploiting the desire for independence. And even the communists that later fled from mainland to Formosa have opted to cooperate with Germania and Akitsushima Dominion in order to have an economic future."

"So what would you do if the communists did gain power in our colonies?"

The good thing about Southeast Asia is that it is full of islands. We have the naval dominance over the CSR to enforce our interests. Why fight the insurgents on their home territory full of jungle and swamps when we can force them to come to us over the water or air? Aegyptus demonstrated that one doesn't need an industrial base to drive their invaders insane, but fighting a war on the ocean and in the air without an industrial base just means the dominant force has plenty of live fire exercise opportunities.

And if the CSR wants to even hold face to face meetings with their communist allies in Southeast Asia, they would have to get across the water or air first.

"I wish them luck with trying to trade with the CSR over the ocean when Akitsushima Dominion dismantled CSR's navy and air force in a skirmish less than a year ago. So unless the CSR somehow became an industrial powerhouse overnight in order to replace their losses and out-build the Akinese, they won't be in a position to openly contest the seas." I grinned widely as I used a magic illusion on the world map in the room to show how the Akinese and us would dominate the South Jiuzhou Sea. "Germania is in the process of replacing her aging fleet with new vessels, designed specifically to counter mage swarms that the Chinese are so fond of using. Which means Germania and their allies can perform many lengthy, 'legal' inspections of cargo ships sailing between the CSR and communist controlled islands to check for any war material or Chinese military 'advisors'. I'll probably invite South Bharat's military and their large manpower for them to provide extra muscle for the numerous boarding actions. After all, they will also need maritime experience for their own navy."

"So you're not going to land soldiers on the beaches to crush the communists? What if their boarded ships fight back?" Vondel had a puzzled look on his face.

"Sticks and carrots," I held out my two opened hands with the palms facing up. I clenched one of my hands into a fist. "They can try to cozy up to the CSR and get the naval 'stick' from us. And if their civilian ships fight back or evade inspections, then they will be regarded as combatant ships and treated accordingly. If they keep causing trouble, then we will stop the inspections and just blockade them entirely while also implementing no fly zones so they can't use cargo aircraft. If they prove to be incapable of learning their lesson, then their ocean and air access privileges are revoked."

"Privileges revoked? What?"

"I'd hate to bring back the old Empire's unrestricted submarine warfare into usage again, but if they keep frustrating our blockades and no fly zones without changing their foreign policy, we would indiscriminately sink all of their vessels, and bombard their coastal and airfield infrastructure. That would remove any means of them attacking us over the water or air. If it's too dangerous to put down a rabid dog, then trapping it in a cage to starve it out is what I'm going to do."

At the end of the day, he was still the leader of a former Imperial state, one that could possibly be prised away from the Allied Kingdom and drawn into the OZEV fold slowly over time.

I offered my other hand as a handshake to Vondel. "The communists would also get to watch their neighbors prosper. Neighbors who at least remained neutral and traded with Europe, Akitsushima Dominion and South Bharat. The carrots would include things such as naval escorting of their ships against any pirates or communist forces, helping them enforce territorial water claims against communist governments and providing various forms of economic assistance. The communist governments may fight against the inevitable, but their people will see their well off neighbors, start asking why can't they also prosper, and maybe in an ironic twist, launch their own anti-communist guerrilla warfare. Which may or may not receive substantial aid from interested benefactors, while the CSR would be blocked from propping up their puppet governments. And I would like to see Lothiern be part of that process of convincing newly independent countries to work with Europe."

Speaking of South Bharat and their lack of maritime experience, I'll need to sell them whatever leftover old destroyers that New Granada didn't buy, with the offer of helping them develop a new navy using those destroyers as training platforms. A South Bharatian navy would further contain North Bharat and give us more options to handle East Africa, the Arabian Sea and other ocean bodies east of the Suez Canal.

"Do you think the Albish would try that same strategy of yours?"

"They have to put soldiers on the ground to maintain their colonial claim, and oversee the resource extraction and transportation, allowing insurgents to bleed them out. We only seek to persuade independent countries to turn their backs on the CSR, and failing that, isolate and defang them entirely so they can never interact with the CSR or pose a threat to anti-communist neighbors."

Vondel deeply sighed as he reached out his hand to take on my handshake offer. "I'll consult my cabinet and make a decision after seeing what the peace deal with Aegyptus looks like."

"Fair enough, I'll wait for your official decision." We both shook hands and then stood up.

As I prepared to leave the room, Vondel cleared his throat to get my attention. "One more thing I should warn you about. Consider it a gesture of goodwill on Lothiern's part."

"Oh? What's that?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Do you remember what happened to the former Kaiser after the Treaty of Triano?"

"Quiet retirement in Lothiern with the rest of the former royal family, wasn't it?"

"Correct. While the Kaiser himself passed away several years ago, the rest of his family is slowly becoming more active in politics once more. In particular, one of his grandsons, Prince Karl Ferdinand, is preparing to emigrate to Germania."

"You think he's going to start trouble?"

"Indeed. I suggest the Germanian government tries its best to find a reason to block his move. Because we discovered he's been quietly building a very hawkish political movement, using my country as a center of operations. A movement that thinks Marie Kirschmann is far too soft and dovish for their taste."

"Oh?" That's not good at all if he plans on pulling some of the extremists away from Marie's following.

Vondel continued on. "Ferdinand's platform includes Germania's immediate conquest of the Francois Republic to 'get rid of a major security threat for good' and as revenge for its previous attacks in Germania, and to 'finish off the Rus for good' so that they would never threaten Europe again. One local paper already nicknamed him 'the bloody prince'."

Great. Meaning if I ever make Marie disappear into the ether, all I would accomplish would be to help recruit a large pool of supporters for the bloody prince to help himself to. And if I want to entrench a stable democracy, I can't allow the BND to make him disappear into the ether, especially since that would draw unwanted public attention to the disgraced Kaiser. I would much rather keep the Kaiser's descendants from trying to rebuild OZEV into a new monarchical empire. I didn't spend my entire teenage and adult life creating a democratic utopia for Europe, only for the damn Kaiser's descendants to steal my work!

"I'll have to check if the prince is technically a citizen of Germania, as I'm assuming he was likely born in Lothiern and has been living there his whole life," I mused.

"Good luck," Vondel waved goodbye as I briskly walked out of the room. "The last thing Europe needs is any more monarchs or warmongers."

When I reached the doorway, I turned around. "And I agree with that."

Normally I would have taken ordinary transportation, but for this situation, I'm just going to fly directly to Berun to talk to Chancellor Dertinge about the impending political crisis from that bloody prince, before tomorrow's peace talks.

1953 October 5th, SS Yalta airship:

I whistled in appreciation.

"No matter what one may think of the Albish, they sure know how to do spectacle," I stated. "I wish Visha were around to see this."

Before us in all its glory was the SS Yalta, the largest airship ever built. The pure white vessel shone brightly like a huge crystalline gem under the powerful lights of the airport. A truly magnificent swan of a vehicle; it was such a pity it was the last one still in commercial service The aeroplane services had steadily eroded businesses from the airships until the commercial jets finished them off for good. The only airships I am aware of still in service is the Germanian air force that acquired a fleet of them from the shuttering businesses at bargain prices to repurpose them.

'It seems they have tripled down on this airship being a luxury cruise liner to still stay in business.'

The Germanian, Aegyptian and South Bharatian delegations were escorted up into the depths of the massive craft and arrived at a luxurious conference hall. Attendants carried our luggage on to our designated living quarters. I ran through my mental notes of Sadat's planned terms and his reasoning behind them, along with inputs from South Bharat's new Prime Minister Nehr. We had held a meeting in Germania before coming here because we suspected that even though this airship is owned by Lord Halifax, a central AK-47 cult member, the Albish spy services would doubtless have done their work ahead of time. Considering the sheer quantity of opulent furnishings as far as the eye could see, it would all be too easy to place bugs everywhere.

With a soft shudder, the airship lurched upwards and lifted off the ground, carrying us all off into the inky night.

The delegates all endured the standard round of greetings and sterile diplomatic compliments and then got down to business. I took my seat and took notice of only tea being available. No coffee. Well, if they're going to be petty about this, that's a game I can also play.

I looked over at Ambassador Sadat and smiled, "When we land, do you mind showing me a good coffee place in Londinium? I understand you've spent a fair amount of time enjoying that city's hospitality in your youth."

"I would rather make my own coffee to my own preferences," Sadat glanced at Prime Minister William and the Frankish acting foreign minister. "Safer as well."

The Frankish representative glared at us, while William cleared his throat to get everyone's attention away from an argument over coffee.

"These are the agendas that will be discussed at this meeting," William motioned at the blackboard. "The withdrawal of combatant forces from Aegyptus. The return of control of the Suez Canal to the Allied Kingdom, in return for us repairing the Canal ..."

Sadat interjected, "What do you mean give the control of the Canal to you? We can keep dragging this war out until you understand the reality."

"And our armies will remain on your soil until the last person is standing, which would be us. I am well aware of the immense death toll among your so-called civilian population, to which we regard all of them as illegal combatants due to the fierce resistance." the Frankish representative had an annoyed look. "I think you have forgotten why the war was started in the first place. We don't trust you with full ownership of the Canal."

What an irony. The Frankish using the Empire's Arene Massacre argument. I have to keep myself from laughing at the ridiculous turnaround.

"And now you don't have the Canal due to your warmongering," Sadat shrugged.

"Enough of the bickering, gentlemen," I sighed before motioning at William. "Prime Minister William hasn't finished laying out the agenda for this conference."

"The last thing to discuss is Lothiern's hydrocarbon situation."

I glared at him incredulously. "And you didn't see the need to invite Lothiern to discuss this side topic that involves their future? Never mind the fact that this meeting is supposed to focus on achieving peace in Aegyptus?"

"Inviting them would have meant you inviting another country of your choosing to this meeting, thus further derailing the conference," William tapped on the table with his pen.

"And if Lothiern refuses the hydrocarbon deal that you wanted to tie to the Aegyptian peace deal, thus scuttling the peace deal in the process...?" I raised an eyebrow while my right hand's thumb and index finger rubbed together and the rest of my fingers remained curled together.

"That matter will be handled between the Allied Kingdom and them. Now, can we discuss what our plans will be for the Canal?"

My right hand curled into a fist. "No, if you're going to add nonsense side deals to a peace deal, I want to clean them up first. What is your plan for Lothiern's hydrocarbon situation?"

"Securing Europe's hydrocarbon supply."

"By pulling it away from OZEV after we all heavily subsidized hydrocarbon explorations long before your invasion of Aegyptus," I chuckled, then my face hardened. "I don't have patience for bullshit after being forced to eat the shit sandwiches from your war in Aegyptus that broke global trade and the oil flow from the Middle East. Germanian citizens are angry and it's causing me political trouble back home. I wouldn't be pressing as hard on this matter if it wasn't for the disruption of hydrocarbon supply from the Middle East."

"And your goal was to turn Lothiern into your personal gas supply, after helping Nasser return to Aegyptus?" The Frankish representative scoffed.

"They signed a contract and now they want to back out of it. Rom-Dansk Petrol footed the entire bill for the exploration and the planned infrastructure construction, with much of that funded by OZEV." I turned my gaze at him. "And regarding that accusation with Nasser's situation, I have no idea what the hell you are talking about. Do you have any evidence to back up your bold statement?"

"I can choose to simply walk away from this discussion while you two argue over how our President escaped from his illegal imprisonment by the Allied Kingdom. We can meet again during the winter. Are there parachutes onboard for me to use?" Ambassador Sadat prepared to get up from his chair.

The Frankish representative was about to say something to Sadat when I shot a death glare at the representative for him to shut up. William loudly cleared his throat, "There is no need to discuss Nasser's exciting adventure. Now, regarding the Lothiern, I would like to hear what President Degurechaff has to say."

"Thank you," I smiled at William. "There are two possible ways I can see us solving this problem. We come to a fair agreement with the understanding that if it wasn't for Rom-Dansk Petrol, no one would have known about the natural gas reserve for who knows how long. Which means minimal changes to the original contract. Or we all avoid putting diplomatic pressure on Lothiern and let their citizens decide what future they want, with fair compensation to Rom-Dansk Petrol depending on the new plan. Even if I did want to allow Lothiern to completely cut OZEV off from the natural gas reserve, I still have to answer to my voters, and there is a political rival back home that is pulling voters away from me."

"Marie Kirschmann…" William muttered.

"I'd be curious of what she has to say if the natural gas situation becomes public news," I nervously chuckled. "While I would much prefer to keep Germania's military focused on the communist threat, she might have other ideas. I'm surprised at how much popularity she has amassed with her aggressive rhetoric."

"We will have atomic bombs ready if that crazed bitch and her equally crazed supporters, or you, try anything against us!" The Frankish representative clenched his teeth.

I rolled my eyes with a deeply sarcastic tone. "I didn't know Ernst Paul was running your country now. I can't believe we will all die in a nuclear hellfire over Lothiern's natural gas, for the communist cockroaches to feast on our burned corpses. Fantastic. I don't want to live on this planet anymore."

I then gave a death glare at the Frankish representative. "And assuming the SCE assassinates Marie Kirschmann, they'll also need to violate Lothiern's sovereignty to silence Prince Karl Ferdinand because he is even more extreme and violent than Kirschmann, and intends on throwing his hat into the Germanian politics ring to rule Germania as the next emperor!"

William loudly rapped on the table with great impatience. "You have a point, we'll let Lothiern decide on this natural gas matter. Now can we get back to the discussion about the Canal?"

It's a risky gamble letting Lothiern freely decide how they would handle their unexpected natural gas wealth. But William is probably expecting Vondel to go with the original deal between them, when I offered a safer alternative. Vondel's decision would be heavily influenced by this peace deal and if the rebellions in the Albish colonies intensified from the rebels being emboldened by the Albish and Frankish weakness. And if Vondel does take my offer, the Albish and Frankish would be unable to pressure Lothiern to change their minds, not if they want to risk blowing up the peace deal that they dared to hitch the hydrocarbon deal to and further dig into the hole that their international prestige was already sunk deep into.

"Removal of all European military forces in Aegyptus," Sadat tersely said.

"So you'll be repairing the canal yourself?" William frowned. "I won't send in laborers and engineers to your country without armed protection."

Prime Minister Nehr finally spoke after passively observing the meeting. "I can send laborers over to Aegyptus to repair the Canal, and peacekeepers for their protection and to also protect engineering staff from the Allied Kingdom, Francois Republic and the OZEV. My question is where the funding would come from, as South Bharat doesn't have particularly deep pockets, especially with the economic disruptions from the closure of the Canal."

"The Allied Kingdom and the Francois Republic will fully fund the repairs in return for a 51% stake of the Canal."

"Full control of the Canal on our territory and 51% of the profits going to you?" Sadat scowled as he looked down at the cup of tea that he had not touched. "What did you put in your tea?"

"I won't agree to paying a single franc. There are those in my government that proposed putting the entire Aegyptian population in prison so that we can rebuild the Canal in peace," the Frankish representative took a sip of his tea, then stopped when I laughed.

"You still call me the 'Devil of the Rhine' behind closed doors, decades after a war that I fought as a child soldier that was serving an emperor who failed his people. And here you are, being a worse monster than even I could have imagined."

"The end justifies the means! We will restore honor to our country!" The representative slammed down his cup.

"Honor built on war crimes. And I'm sure a few decades afterward, Frankish nationalists will deny the horrors that they inflicted on this world to make themselves feel better." I narrowed my eyes. "I didn't know your government really wanted to take the 'Devil of the Rhine' title from me to wear it."

The Frankish representative got up from his chair. "I'm done with this meeting. The war will continue, with or without the Albish involvement. Even if it means ending the war in Aegyptus with our atomic bombs."

"Germania also has atomic bombs." William emphasized with exasperation.

"Then she can live up to her Devil of the Rhine name!" The Frankish representative spat as he prepared to walk away.

"I won't need to use atomic bombs." I sighed before taking a sip of water. "I will drop something worse."

The Frankish representative stared at me as if he was in disbelief of Germania having something more terrifying.

"The SCE has been sponsoring organized crime in OZEV, including in Germania. And we have mountains of evidence proving it. You've probably heard about the München hostage crisis that happened not too long ago?"

The Frankish representative's face turned incandescently red as I continued.

"We also discovered the SCE has deep links to the Ildoan mafia that committed terrorism in München and killed Germanian hostages on live TV, no less! While you're welcome to deny official involvement and accuse me of lying, I will have the proof in the hands of every major news agency in the world. It would be unfortunate if you had to pull all of your military forces from their overseas adventures back to your homeland."

"You lying bitch!" The Frankish representative snared, initially putting up a fist, then back down as if he had realized he was talking to an ace of aces.

"And I'm not done yet." My eyes locked onto his face without blinking. "Your agents were also the ones that had their hands in the assassination attempt against me. Do you realize how expensive it is to rebuild the Presidential Palace, or to pay for the medical bills of critically wounded security personnel? And I could go back further. Such as the mass poisoning at a restaurant I was at with my loved one in Hambrück, followed by the bombing of a ship in Hambrück port."

I noticed William, Sadat and Nehr were staring incredulously at the Frankish representative, then I loudly set down my glass of water to get William's attention. "In the event of OZEV responding to multiple casus bellis against the Francois Republic, what would be your country's position?"

"Well, that's a complicated matter," William nervously cleared his throat.

"Then I wish you luck convincing your citizens to endure wartime rationing to save a criminal and terrorist state that provoked multiple countries in Europe, and tried to murder me while I was enjoying lunch with a loved one during peacetime, and then trying again when I was sleeping. That they should throw away their lives to bail out the Frankish government from the consequences of their reckless crimes." I smiled.

"You're bluffing," the Frankish representative huffed.

"Has there been a time where I blatantly lied in diplomacy?" I jabbed my finger in his direction. "And election campaign promises don't count, because every politician at some point has to spin the messaging to their voters during an election."

As the Frankish representative hesitantly retook his seat, William took a deep breath. "The Allied Kingdom and Francois Republic will privately negotiate on how the two countries will contribute to the Canal repairs. No need for further violence."

Sadat turned to me. "What would be your offer?"

"Hmm, I would like the guarantee of OZEV's civilian and military vessels being able to freely pass through the Canal…" I tapped on my chin.

"Don't make this a bidding war," William tiredly sighed.

"You'll also need to fund the construction of our Aswan Dam and pay off the original foreign loans that we took to start the construction if you want control of the Canal. While we have defaulted on those loans due to the overthrow of our government, we would like to continue to have access to foreign capital, and fairly compensating the original lenders would re-establish our international creditworthiness. Regarding the 51% stake, I'll let the Allied Kingdom have operational control of the Canal if 51% of the total revenue, not net profit, goes to Aegyptus," Sadat retorted. "After all, your forces carpet-bombed the unfinished Aswan Dam and wiped out much of the construction progress. And I'm being nice by not asking for war-crime prosecutions."

"Half of total revenue? You expect us to run the Canal at a financial loss?" William was breathing heavily.

"That's your accounting problem to figure out if you are so adamant on controlling the Canal. Or you can give us the Canal entirely."

"Why should we even pay for your dam? Your terrorists shouldn't have used the dam construction site as a base of operations," the Frankish representative shook his finger at Sadat.

Sadat smiled coldly. "Don't make the mistake of assuming we Aegyptians are in any way like the Mesopotamians when it comes to the wanton destruction of our national infrastructure. We will not roll over and accept the ruination of our national dam, and none of us will ever back down from a fight to the death until the day it is finally completed and fully operational. Don't be so certain that you'll be the last person standing. The great deserts of Aegyptus have swallowed up many greater civilizations than yours into their sands without leaving a trace."

William interjected. "Fine, you'll get your revenue claim." Then he turned to me. "But if you want a guarantee of OZEV and Aegyptus being able to freely use the Canal as long as they pay the standard fares and meet the Canal's navigation requirements, I'll need you to chip in as well."

"Germania will be covering the expense of repairing the rest of Aegyptus outside of the Canal and dam, and will provide the engineering teams to do so."

"What?" William blinked at me.

"What, you think you could just repair the Canal and build the Aswan Dam, and leave the rest of my homeland in rubble?" Sadat scoffed.

The peace talks continued on for several more hours, with occasional flare-ups of sharp tensions, before the delegates suspended talks and retired for the night. At this rate, I'm feeling confident that peace in Aegyptus could be achieved before we made landfall in Albion.

The one uncertainty that has been bothering me is how the Germanian populace would react to the Lothiern natural gas deal and the Aegyptus peace deal. Especially with Prince Ferdinand preparing to stir an already volatile cauldron. My Cabinet was scrambling to find ways to legally block him from running for office or establishing a Germanian political party after I ordered an annoyed Elya not to harass or silence the prince. I could do the standard polling, but I could also spin up my 'Marie Kirschmann' disguise again to be an unhinged war maniac to see their reactions for myself…

1953 October 8th, in Berun at a park that is in view of the ruined Presidential Palace being demolished:

"What kind of a deal is this? Why do we have to spend a massive fortune rebuilding Aegyptus when it was the reckless Albish and Frankish that should foot the entire bill?!" I shouted into the microphone while gesturing wildly. I couldn't use magic voice amplification as 'Marie'.

After letting the crowd quiet down a bit, I frowned deeply. "Then there's Lothiern with their natural gas. The only reason they were able to shred the signed contract with Rom-Dansk Petrol and have a new one written was because they ran to the Allied Kingdom, Francois Republic and Ispagna for help. My sources say that the natural gas topic was brought up during the Aegyptian peace talks. You know what President Degurechaff should have done?"

There was a moment of silence, and after waiting for two seconds, I smiled. "We should have told them that the talks would be delayed until winter, when the invaders of Aegyptus would freeze. If they still refused to accept defeat, send our peacekeepers into Aegyptus to kinetically force the invaders out. Would that have meant temporarily more suffering for us? Yes. But we could have forced Lothiern to stick with the original deal so that OZEV could enjoy long term energy security and that Aegyptus gets everything they wanted!"

As the crazed crowd loudly cheered, I decided my 'personal' polling was enough to understand that what I officially did was probably not popular and seen as weak-willed.

"Thank you, and have a good evening!" I let out a big smile and placed my flattened hand over my heart before making my quick exit as I heard the crowd chant my name.

A few hours later:

After I carefully made my way back to my safehouse, I saw Elya waiting for me in the kitchen.

"I see you haven't finished unpacking after your move," Elya looked around at the boxes and luggage.

"The constant random household moves are getting a bit tiring," I sighed as I sat down on one of the boxes. "So, what brings you here today?"

"Two things I needed to discuss. The first one is that our NKVD contacts mentioned Loria was interested in having an agent meet with 'Marie' to see if he could help her push you out of office and in return 'remain focused' on the Albish and Frankish. And if the meeting is successful, he would send over NKVD agents into Germania to help support 'Marie'."

"My disguise isn't going away anytime soon at this point, isn't it?" I spun up a jolt of magic painkillers.

"Look on the bright side, this would be a perfect way of continuing to expand our influence over the NKVD." Elya smiled. "I would like for you to just play along. If you feel uncomfortable, I can just keep having my agents pretend to be you while talking to the NKVD."

"Sure, fine, as long as Visha is okay with it." I defeatedly shrugged.

"Excellent! Now, for the other topic I wanted to discuss, Francois is not handling the Aegyptian peace deal well." Elya's tone shifted from excitement to dread. "With this on top of all their other problems, we're worried that Francois as an unitary, federal state might actually collapse."

"Other problems? You mean how they're trying to sabotage the peace deal we agreed with Albion? Or their formal default of their war debts? Or them abandoning gold convertibility and seeing the value of the franc plummet? Or the diplomatic wrath from their enraged American creditors?" I chuckled, but Elya's stern look on her face shut me up. "Oh come on," I grumbled, "Can't I be allowed to gloat a bit just this once, Frau Killjoy?"

Elya poured two cups of coffee, handed one of them to me and glanced at her notebook briefly before looking up at me. "Parisee is convulsing with riots from the pro-colonialists decrying the peace conference's results as an Albish and Germanian backstab. Apparently it became public news that the Allied Kingdom had forced the Frankish government to accept 75% cost of the Suez Canal repairs and the Aswan Dam construction. The Albish Embassy in Parisee was firebombed and a few of their employees were kidnapped from their homes and held hostage. Our embassy had already been evacuated and all of the documents destroyed before the peace deal was made public, but the building was also attacked nevertheless. The socialists haven't been quiet either and waged numerous street battles against the pro-colonialists. The police have mostly given up on maintaining order and seem to have barricaded themselves in their stations and a couple other important buildings. Dertinge reported an uptick of Frankish citizens requesting political asylum in neighboring countries, including even Germania. Their acting defense minister announced that their forces that were withdrawing from Aegyptus would be diverted to the homeland for 'rest and recovery' instead of going to Algeria and Indochina, and to be on standby in the event that political violence intensifies."

I blinked a few times. "That's a dramatic turn of events. And just when I thought Francois couldn't get any more chaotic."

"And there's more," Elya sighed. "The Frankish left-wing politicians in the National Assembly have opened an investigation into the SCE after they were informed about the SCE's domestic and foreign misconduct that lead to the strained Albish ties. The right-wing is split between those who insist the SCE is innocent and those who fear not doing something would risk an invasion from OZEV with no assistance from the Albish and thus result in mass colonial uprisings even if they successfully held off OZEV, and so are backing the left. Knowing how the SCE likes to solve their problems, I wouldn't be surprised if they turn the National Assembly into a smoking crater rather than their senior officials testifying in public, especially now that there appears to be a majority of the National Assembly members that demand the SCE to explain what they have done."

Elya then flipped to one of the pages in her notebook, "Also, Calvar requested permission for him to return to the Francois Republic to investigate the SCE. He found the 'rest and recovery' story suspicious given the non-stop fighting in Algeria and the steadily deteriorating situation in Indochina. The Frankish military normally would have immediately thrown combat-ready personnel into the meat-grinders."

"You're asking for my permission to let him go free?" I took a sip of the coffee, my hands slightly trembling.

"I was uncertain about what to do with him and wanted to hear from you."

He had been warning about a possible coup in the Francois Republic for some time. But what could he do? If he tries to stop it and fails, it could cause a blowback against us. Especially when I forced that damn Frankish representative to sign the peace deal or have his country be tarnished by the piles of evidence of criminal and terrorist activities.

I know I have to take decisive actions to stop idiots from blundering into one disaster after the next. But is what I am willing to take a risk with?

I set down my cup. "I'll allow him to go undercover, but on a very tight leash. Just in case he has other motives, or if he shares the same level of the SCE's 'wake up and choose violence' enthusiasm. If anything goes wrong, giving political ammunition to the Frankish hardline nationalists of "foreign interference" would cause severe consequences for us. They and the Albish are increasingly being backed into a corner, and while much of that is their own fault, a cornered rat is at its most dangerous and unpredictable."

Elya nodded. "I'll start making careful preparations for his operation."

AN:

wiki/Groningen_gas_field

On May 29, 1959, the NAM started exploratory research on land owned by farmer Kees Boon, near Kolham in the municipality of Slochteren. Two months later on July 22, the drilling led to the discovery of natural gas for the first time.[7][8] Initially it received little media attention, because little was known about its size at the time. The flaring did attract local attention. The fact that it was a large gas field became clear when gas was found near Delfzijl in 1960. The properties of that natural gas matched those of Slochteren, so it had to be the same gas field. These findings about the size were initially kept secret, also from NAM shareholder Esso.

The size was not made public until October 14, 1960. A Belgian newspaper reported on a speech by Belgian Member of the European Parliament Victor Leemans, in which he mentioned that the Netherlands had found a gas field of 300 billion m³.[5] The cabinet responded to parliamentary questions that a large amount of natural gas had indeed been found, but kept it at 60 billion m³. Behind closed doors, it was then estimated at a maximum of 100 billion m³.[7]

With OZEV being under intense energy pressure, Tanya prioritizing energy independence many years ago, and Germania/Daneland/Dacia having subsidized hydrocarbon explorations, discovering the giant gas field earlier would be realistic.

Inspiration for the Danish-Dacian joint hydrocarbon venture's name:

wiki/_(company)

wiki/Rompetrol

wiki/Suez_Crisis#Britain

Eden's successor, Harold Macmillan, accelerated the process of decolonisation and sought to restore Britain's special relationship with the United States.[264]

The Suez crisis, though a blow to British power in the Near East, did not mark its end. Britain intervened successfully in Jordan to put down riots that threatened the rule of King Hussein in 1958 and in 1961 deployed troops to Kuwait to successfully deter an Iraqi invasion. The latter deployment had been a response to the threats of the Iraqi dictator General Abd al-Karim Qasim that he would invade and annex Kuwait. At the same time, though British influence continued in the Middle East, Suez was a blow to British prestige in the Near East from which the country never recovered.[266] Britain evacuated all positions East of Suez by 1971, though this was due mainly to economic factors.

Increasingly, British foreign policy thinking turned away from acting as a great imperial power.

wiki/Suez_Crisis#France

Risse-Kappen argued that Franco-American ties never recovered from the Suez crisis. There were various reasons for this. Previously there had already been strains in the Franco-American relationship triggered by what Paris considered U.S. betrayal of the French war effort in Indochina at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.[273] The incident demonstrated the weakness of the NATO alliance in its lack of planning and co-operation beyond the European stage. Mollet believed Eden should have delayed calling the Cabinet together until 7 November, taking the whole canal in the meantime, and then veto with the French any UN resolution on sanctions.[274]

From the point of view of General Charles de Gaulle, the Suez events demonstrated to France that it could not rely on its allies. The British had initiated a ceasefire in the midst of the battle without consulting the French, while the Americans had opposed Paris politically. The damage to the ties between Paris and Washington, D.C., "culminated in President de Gaulle's 1966 decision to withdraw from the military integration of NATO".[275]

The Suez war had an immense impact on French domestic politics. Much of the French Army officer corps felt that they been "betrayed" by what they considered to be the spineless politicians in Paris when they were on the verge of victory just as they believed they had been "betrayed" in Vietnam in 1954, and accordingly become more determined to win the war in Algeria, even if it meant overthrowing the Fourth Republic to do so. The Suez crisis thus help to set the stage for the military disillusionment with the Fourth Republic, which was to lead to the collapse of the republic in 1958.[276] According to the protocol of Sèvres agreements, France secretly transmitted parts of its own atomic technology to Israel, including a detonator.[277]